Aleix Espargaro claims that his pre-start bike swap was necessitated by his Aprilia squad forgetting to change from a “eco” engine map prior to the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix.
Espargaro was only 17 points behind championship leader Fabio Quartararo heading into Sunday’s race at Motegi.
The Aprilia racer placed sixth in qualifying, ahead of Quartararo and Francesco Bagnaia of the Ducati, but had to begin the race from the pit lane due to a problem that cropped up on the sighting lap to the grid and required him to change to another bike.
Espargaro claims his problems were caused by a “eco” map that is installed for the pre-race lap to the starting grid to conserve fuel. This map is then removed and replaced by the actual race engine mapping.
“Eco map we call it, to save fuel, the bike doesn’t go more than 100km/h, no more than 5000rpm,” Espargaro, who ended the race with no points in 16th, explained when asked what the problem was.
“So, I tried everything on the sighting lap and it was not working. I changed to the second bike in the pits, but that bike had the soft rear tyre and I can’t ride with that tyre.
“I knew it from the beginning, the bike was just pushing the front.
“I just tried to stay on track. I was also very nervous and making a lot of mistakes.
“So I decided to stay out on track to wait for the red flag or whatever, but it didn’t arrived.”
Espargaro claims that if it weren’t for his problems, he would have “100%” won today. He points out that the second bike’s soft tyre made his charge more difficult.
When asked what would be possible if the problem didn’t exist, Espargaro responded, “Win, 100%.
“It’s the first weekend due to the weather conditions obviously that I didn’t ride bike two at all.
“The soft tyre I hate it, from the last three races I never used it.
“Even in the qualifying I suffered. And even like that I was in 1m46.0s [in the race] for many laps.
“With the medium tyre on my other bike, I could have stayed in 45.5, at least at level of Jack. So, it’s a shame.”
Espargaro does not think that the fact that MotoGP is now involved in a triple-header that started in Spain last week had anything to do with the mistake that took place with his engine map.
“I don’t think so,” he said when asked if fatigue caused the problem.
“I’m tired, everyone is tired and it’s our job. It’s a mistake that can happen anywhere.
“It’s a big, big mistake and this cannot happen. But we are human. We are a team and we will try to win the title.”
Quartararo, who finished seventh in the competition as Bagnaia wrecked out on the final lap, is now 25 points ahead of Espargaro, who is still third in the rankings.
However, he claims that the failure to take advantage of his competitors’ issues on a “rare” weekend when he was faster than both of them made him feel worse about his own performance.
“This is worse. For me this is worse, because I lost a big opportunity,” he said of his rivals also have difficult races.
“If they finished first and second, it would have been worse for the championship but I wouldn’t have been that sad.
“But I’m very sad because I knew today I was faster than them.
“And it’s very difficult to be faster than Pecco and Fabio, it’s very rare for me. So, it was a big waste.”
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Aprilia, Fabio Quartararo, Ducati, Francesco Bagnaia, MOTO, Moto racing, Motocross, MotoGP
